The Israelites understood this kingdom to be a kingdom that would be physical… right here on earth. Indeed, its prototype was established here on this planet for the house of Israel. Yet, for a number of reasons, at that time, it was destined not to be the complete earthly kingdom. At that time it served the purpose of being a prototype or a shadow of the final kingdom of God which was to come. It was established by God to give man a hint as to what a theocracy could be when the proper time and ruler came about. It also served to show that the proper king or ruler was undeniably and absolutely needed. Just the same, the main reason it was established was because it was time for God to fulfill a covenant He had made with Abraham. However, even at its inception, because of the factor of time, it was incomplete. In other words, it was time for God to set up His earthly kingdom but not the proper time to complete it for there were
Now God looks at time entirely differently than we do; nonetheless, concerning time, God is bound, in relation to His dealings with man, by the laws of time and space, which He has established for this universe. Because of this, God's plans and purpose have been preordained with each event of His plan preset to occur at a precisely prescribed time.
It might also be pointed out here that the kingdom established for the house of Israel did not disappear because of the faithlessness of the majority belonging to the twelve tribes of Israel. What did disappear were the earthly chosen people and the earthly temple… replaced by the spiritual chosen people and a spiritual temple along with a new covenant for all men. A covenant that the House of Israel was told by God was to come centuries ago.
When the date preordained by God for the ruler of His kingdom arrived, so did the Son of God… known to us as the Messiah or Jesus. Born in the year AD 4, Jesus grew up in the land set aside for the former chosen nation and began his ministry thirty years later, and just as the covenant promised, Jesus came for the Jews first.
Christ brought many things when He arrived, including the good news of the gospel, announcing for the first time that the kingdom of God also included a spiritual realm. In fact, it is actually for this spiritual realm of the kingdom of God that the earthly realm exists. For the inhabitants of the spiritual Kingdom of God are to be adopted from the earthly kingdom. Therefore the kingdom of God turns out to be both in heaven and on the earth. Both of which we can consider very real places.
Well now that we know what this kingdom of God is… and where it is, we can start to use the scriptures to back all this up and to consider:
The Israelites understood this kingdom to be a kingdom that would be physical… right here on earth. Indeed, its prototype was established here on this planet for the house of Israel. Yet, for a number of reasons, at that time, it was destined not to be the complete earthly kingdom. At that time it served the purpose of being a prototype or a shadow of the final kingdom of God which was to come. It was established by God to give man a hint as to what a theocracy could be when the proper time and ruler came about. It also served to show that the proper king or ruler was undeniably and absolutely needed. Just the same, the main reason it was established was because it was time for God to fulfill a covenant He had made with Abraham. However, even at its inception, because of the factor of time, it was incomplete. In other words, it was time for God to set up His earthly kingdom but not the proper time to complete it for there were
Now God looks at time entirely differently than we do; nonetheless, concerning time, God is bound, in relation to His dealings with man, by the laws of time and space, which He has established for this universe. Because of this, God's plans and purpose have been preordained with each event of His plan preset to occur at a precisely prescribed time.
It might also be pointed out here that the kingdom established for the house of Israel did not disappear because of the faithlessness of the majority belonging to the twelve tribes of Israel. What did disappear were the earthly chosen people and the earthly temple… replaced by the spiritual chosen people and a spiritual temple along with a new covenant for all men. A covenant that the House of Israel was told by God was to come centuries ago.
When the date preordained by God for the ruler of His kingdom arrived, so did the Son of God… known to us as the Messiah or Jesus. Born in the year AD 4, Jesus grew up in the land set aside for the former chosen nation and began his ministry thirty years later, and just as the covenant promised, Jesus came for the Jews first.
Christ brought many things when He arrived, including the good news of the gospel, announcing for the first time that the kingdom of God also included a spiritual realm. In fact, it is actually for this spiritual realm of the kingdom of God that the earthly realm exists. For the inhabitants of the spiritual Kingdom of God are to be adopted from the earthly kingdom. Therefore the kingdom of God turns out to be both in heaven and on the earth. Both of which we can consider very real places.
Well now that we know what this kingdom of God is… and where it is, we can start to use the scriptures to back all this up and to consider:
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